In Between
by ultimateedge
Summary: A collection of one shots set in between the episodes of the series season four arc about Raven. As the prophecy unfolds Raven struggles to come to terms with her fate and the very nature of what she is. Bumped up the rating for the second chapter.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I wanted to do a selection of one shots set during the season 4 arc story of Raven, I guess it will be a good practice too to try some different styles and such to see what I'm comfortable writing in, so feedback would be super helpful. This first one is set around the 'Birthmark' episode starting just after Slade dropped Raven off the building and Robin caught her, (though what was Slade thinking? What if Robin hadn't been there? He'd have to go back to Trigon and be like "so are you sure you needed your daughter alive for this whole portal thing?" I thought Slade was supposed to be smart.**

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In Between: Birthmark

The air has stopped pounding in my ears, someone has there arm around my back and there is a gritty surface beneath me. Where am I? I open my eyes but it takes a few seconds for my head to stop spinning and the rushing colours to stop being blurry, I focus and see Robin. Thank Azar, he's okay, I sense bruised ribs but at least he's okay.

"Let's go home." He says exactly what I want to hear, well maybe not exactly "you must have had a nightmare and sleep-walked out here," would be more welcomed, but since when was _I_ the optimist. I try to get up but even with Robin's help everything get's dizzy again; it feels like thick smoke is in my lungs and my skin is burning.

"Raven?" I push him away thinking that he might catch on fire off my skin, what's wrong with me? I'm not thinking straight, I'm back on my knees, kneeling and I can feel the marks that Slade branded me with. They feel alive under my skin, I scratch at myself but the red marks my finger nails leave look just like writing. Robin lays a hand on my shoulder and hunkers down to my level, he looks at me intently, I can tell even through the mask.

"Raven, you have to tell me: what did Slade do to you?" I try to concentrate, on his face and on his words and the visions start fade, come on Raven, you're stronger than this, and you have more control. I take a deep breath; a shaky one but I feel better and the city feels real once more; there are people down below strolling around in the night as if there world wasn't about to come crumbling down around them. At the sound of Robin's voice my attention snaps back;

"Did he... did he violate you?" I suddenly notice the condition that I'm in: my clothes are just tatters around me: I've never felt this naked before.

"No... He didn't touch me that way. He just... had a message for me." My tone is listless and I sense a doubt inside Robin but he doesn't question me, whether because of his discomfort or my own I don't know and I'm too drained to reassure him. Slade may not have touched me but my body is no longer my own: it's his, my father's and always has been, I guess I just wanted to forget that for a while. I'm not a person... I'm just his portal.

I feel Robin drape his cape across my shoulders, I'm still kneeling in the dirt and my knees hurt. I tug the black and yellow material around me and it may not be as long as my cloak but I feel safer inside. He's calling the other Titan's; Cyborg speaks to the monitor in his arm; I'm relieved to hear that they got out of the factory without harm. Robin asks for Cyborg to bring the T car to our position, he says I've been hurt and that Slade got away. I stand up and make it this time; I brush the gravel from my knees and shins.

"Robin," he turns to me and I've got his and Cyborg's attention, "I'm fine... I was just disorientated. What with Slade coming back from the dead with his new powers and then stopping time, I just..." I sigh, I know they don't believe me but they're confused and I can't tell them, not yet. "I'll fly home, I just want to get home and it'll be quicker."

"I don't think that's such a good idea."

"Slade isn't still out there."

Robin isn't consoled and the T car is already on its way, "What did he _do_ to you Raven, that mark, the powers; they're all connected aren't they?" All I can do is shrug, I can't do this now so I do what I always do: I reign in my emotions, with the prophecy at hand I can't afford the tiniest of slip ups and by the time the others arrive I'm a closed book again.

I sit at the front next to Cyborg for a change because I can't stand the closeness of everyone in the back seats. With a look from Robin that even Beast Boy understands no one asks me anything and the trip back to the tower is a silent but bleak one.

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It's the day after and as normal I wake early, but everything isn't normal anymore.

The party last night was a sweet effort but their attempts to cheer me up couldn't hide their concern that laced the evening. And I guess that no matter how much ice cream you eat it doesn't change that you're a monster inside, still, Cyborg had gotten chocolate fudge cookie dough surprise so it was worth the try.

As I shower and get dressed I'm glad no one else is up, I figure I must have gotten two hours sleep but I'm not tired and there's something I have to do this morning. I look at myself in the bathroom mirror and wipe the condensation away; sometimes I see shapes in mirrors; I haven't told the others- I have enough creepy habits. But all mirrors are magic in a small way, not many will suck you into peoples' minds or other dimensions but any mirror can be used to show you truth and lies if you know how. My reflection is scarred with red scripter, in the mirror it looks like it hovers just above the surface of my skin but I can feel it underneath like it's burnt into my soul. The left over steam clouds the mirror again and as I watch myself disappear I see four sharp red eyes and I know he is mocking me.

I manage to sneak away from the tower at about 5:30 and the sun is rising on a new age, hopefully the other Titans will think I'm sleeping in and I can be back before they realise I've gone. My destination is the church Robin and I sought momentary refuge in and Slade managed to do a lot of damage. I'll do what I can to fix it but the priest deserves a reason at least.

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The church is quite beautiful from the outside and the stain glass windows catch the first rays of the day. Inside it's a different story; most of the pews have been destroyed and there are charred traces of fire in the wood; there are some deep cracks in the stone flooring and the air smells clogged. As I walk to the altar my footfalls are muffled by ash and the only sound I can hear is my own breathing, this place has lost its spirit: it is like a dead thing now. The altar is mostly undamaged and statues of the icons are untainted by the previous night's destruction, I feel the sudden need to pray which is something I haven't done since the day I fell from Azarath.

"Why am I the way I am?" it's not really much of a prayer more of a plea. I'm sixteen years old and my destiny was written before I was born, I've never had the freedom to choose my own fate and I had hoped that by joining the Titans that I could change what I am.

"Why am I denied the emotions all other possess?" Starfire bears her emotions instantly without worrying about the consequences; she told me once that it is the nature Tamaranians to trust their first instincts and feelings because they are the truest. Not I, I'm trapped on a knife edge: unable to deny or ignore my emotions in case they lash out subconsciously and at the same time control and lock them away. For the first fifteen years of my life I felt nothing. I grew up in a temple raised by the monks of Azarath who were kind and polite but little else; I was told the gravity of my situation as soon as I was old enough to understand and as my powers grew I was taught to control them and myself. My reverie is broken by footfalls behind me and I turn and see the priest.

"I am sorry, I am not of this faith I do not belong here." He perches himself on one of the unbroken pews and signals me to sit next to him. He's an old guy but I sense that he is youthful spirited, I like his face because it shows his kindness.

"Of course you do. If something is wrong maybe I can help. Will you let me?"

"No, it's complicated; you can't understand what is wrong with me." Despite his open and honest character, what am I going to do: break down and cry and pour out the contents of my heart? I should be crying or terrified but I'm just numb like the eye of a storm and I can't help but wonder what kind of person does that make me?

"Frankly you'd be surprised, please, Raven give me a chance."

"You know me?"

"The Teen Titans make the news enough for even an old timer priest like me to have heard of you. You do good work, good things. Please stay, everyone is welcome here." He pats my hand and it feels like paper.

"Even Satan's daughter?" he hesitates but pats my hand again, I guess this wasn't the teenage dilemma he'd expected, "Raven, you do not carry the sins of your father he cannot make you an image of himself." I want to believe him. My soul is linked to him and my rage personifies itself in his image and through me, his precious little gem, he'll ascend onto this plane destroying everything that I had begun to care about. I couldn't bear to let him hurt _them_.

"You're not alone and when you learn this you see too that there is always hope."

Hope. I remember the first time I felt hope; it was when I first met the others before we were titans and before I knew what friendship meant. I cross my legs on the pew and take a deep meditating breath and pull my senses together inside myself and it's then I realise that my hope had never left me.

"I appreciate your advice, Father." And despite everything I start to feel a little better, "though I actually came here to help you. The destruction of your church was my fault and I'd like to help repair what damage that I can."

"I'm assuming this wasn't the random act of vandals like I had first thought, they usually don't come back and offer to clean up."

"I was being chased but I couldn't run from him and he was too strong to fight. He was sent from hell and I had thought that I might have been safe in your church. I was wrong so it's my responsibility to do something." The tower has been turned upside down and inside out by various attacks enough times that fixing things with my powers has become easier. I take up a position at the front of the church and levitate while I concentrate on spreading my power. My dark energy wraps itself around every object that touches the floor and I levitate them a couple of feet of the ground, "do you have a broom or something?"

The priest gapes at me a little, I guess it's because civilians don't get see the Titans use our powers this close and part of what my power is consists of sorcery and witchcraft. I'm glad people don't try and burn witches anymore though I read somewhere that they also tried putting them in barrels of honey, did they not like sugar? He fetches me a broom which I quickly encase in energy and send whizzing around the stone floor collecting pools of ash and shards of glass.

Within an hour we've done what we could; I managed to fix most of the pews by tapping into some internal energy of the wood and helping it grow over some of the charred areas but they'll need to be varnished again and there is little I can do about the cushions and bibles. We sit for a break and he brews us some tea and we talk for a bit, it's strange because sometimes it can be easier to speak with someone you don't know than with your closest friends. His name is Father Peter Mallory and I find his opinions on philosophy and metaphysics fascinating, I tell him that my soul exists in-between the planes of reality of this one and the afterlife. He scoffs at me in disbelief;

"So the mystery of death is not such a mystery to you?"

"I wouldn't say that, it's an individual experience and a surprise for everyone."

When I leave he asks me one last question: "in knowing your fate, does it bring you comfort or fear?" I think for a moment to whether if my fate was of a different consequence would I want to know and in doing so what it could mean.

"It depends on who is writing your fate." He smiles and tells me to trust in God.

My name is Raven, daughter of Trigon.

I'm going to destroy the world.

I've always known it.

But I won't just give in.

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**Disclaimer: I don't own the series or the comics.**

**A/N: thumbs up to those who noticed that the beginning of the scene with Father Peter Mallory was from the comics (Terror incognito if you'd like to know) I took some of the dialogue and expanded it, in the comic Raven is distressed about her powers when she attacks Kid Flash after she is tricked by an illusionist into believing that he is Trigon. It's just a short scene where she questions what she is and I thought it might fit in well here.**

**I've not written anything in first person before, or really in present tense I find it more natural to write in third person past tense but if you don't try then you can't learn. Though I think it made the writing quite choppy and I should be jailed by the grammar police for abuse to the colon and semi colon, not to mention the common comma. Microsoft word may not have spazzed out but then that's not necessarily a good reflection on my grammar. Also I hope the narrative managed to sound at least a little bit like Raven because she's such a developed character that everyone has their expectations of her.  
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**Please review and leave feedback as it is welcomed and extremely helpful. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: just a 'thank you' to everyone who read the first chapter and a double thanks to who reviewed because both your comments were really helpful and I hope that I've taken all your tips on board. This chapter is set after 'The Prophecy' say about three days after to give the characters some time to digest the procphecy.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the story really as it's all based on the existing thread of the plot.**

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In Between: The Prophecy

I look up and there is nothing to help me get to grips with a sky that is gaping and yawning with a fierce gulping and spewing comes forth a fire that is melting and swirling. Around me the buildings are kneeling and broken like grey faceless restless things. Laughter fills my pounding ear drums and this desolate plane echoes with a thousand repeating voices, I can make out but a few phrases: _what you have concealed: I didn't bring them into this; it's a lie; my last hope;_ my scenery starts to rotate around me and becomes a blur of vicious colours and the voices blend together_. _There is a great booming over head and my father's voice spreads across the land and the other cornucopia of chanting slip under and is banished. All I can hear is the prophecy and I find myself huddled and clawing at the ground.

**The Gem was born of Evil's fire.**

**The Gem shall be his portal.**

**He comes to claim,**

**He comes to sire**

**The end of all things mortal.**

Thick boots obscure my view and a hand grips my hair and forces me up to face whoever it is: it's Slade. I'm not scared just angry and I scratch his mask off, underneath is Beast boy and I can't bare the look he is giving me.

"But look who is afraid of you." He speaks with Slade's cruel drawl and drops me to my knees and my eyes snap open. I'm on my knees in my room, it was just another vision, they're getting worse and I haven't slept for over sixty hours and haven't been able to mediate properly for longer.

I can feel my control weakening and that's exactly what He wants so I keep trying but it's getting harder to find my centre and there is little peace left in my mind. It's affecting my powers and I'm finding it harder to restrain my aggression. The only thing I'm grateful for is that we haven't been called out on any alerts since my battle with Slade under the library. The way they were looking at me was awful and I could smell their fear of me: that was the worst thing.

My hands are shaking and my migraine is back, I don't usually get ill because my powers heal me almost instantly if I'm not magically exhausted. But I can get headaches as a result of not being able to mediate and because they're not physically or chemically based I can't take anything for them. I sigh and rub at my throbbing temples, all I can think of is the prophecy and the horrible things I'm going to. I scan through my books for what seems like the hundredth time today, there has to be a way, I just don't know it yet.

"He'll have to destroy me before I help him." and now I'm talking to myself. I have to become more than my destiny. There has to be something I can do to stop myself becoming his portal. One of my books describes the making of portals but there are so many different kinds. I even used one to bring Cyborg back from the past. That was a space-time portal and didn't take too much energy to bring him back because reality knew he didn't belong there. But the portal that will allow my father to traverse this world will be the death of me and the magical discharge will be enough to create a flux in the very fabric that holds the dimensions together. For him it will be like stepping through a shadow and for me? It will be like nothing I can image. I flick through the pages of the book and find the page I'm looking for, it reads;

..._to negotiate a path through forbidden or locked dimensions is a dangerous forgoing and desires much risk and even the power of Gabriel's horn cannot weaken the walls._ _There are several ways to pass through these barriers and all require a sacrifice of varying nature analogous to the dimension itself. A sacrifice may be something substantial or ethereal like a memory or your eye colour..._

I scan down until I get to the paragraph on living portals;

_...not guaranteed. However if it is your aspiration to combat even the strongest barriers between worlds then a link between dimensions must be established in the form of a living portal. A living portal is not just a magical being who is a host to a doorway between planes but whose very soul and body together make the portal. To allow yourself to pass through the hole in reality that it will create the 'host' must be born of your blood like a genetic key that can only let a matching 'blood parent' pass. It need not be said that the living portal will not survive the process as both the immortal soul of the being and its body are torn apart to release the required amount of magical force to rip through worlds..._

"Great, I bet that just tickles." I snap the book shut; it holds no other details about a 'living portal' the whole process being vague and considered dark magic. The portal needs both my soul and body so I'll never be free and an escape starts to form in my mind: "if he can't use my body then he can't ascend to this plane." I stand up and start pulling out more books looking for a small leather bound one near the back.

"I'll have to destroy myself. I'd rather die and be free, than be a slave to that monster's plans."

It won't be easy though because of my healing abilities and I can't just switch them off. Only a magically spelled knife could work and it's not like I have abundance of them in the tower. It's not like the corny horror movies Beast Boy and Cyborg get me to watch where the head vampire lives in some creepy old castle with east facing windows or flimsy wooden furniture that make handy stakes. Real life just isn't that convenient. The book I've picked has a nasty greasy black cover that feels like it leaves blood on your fingertips; it's more dark magic and has some spells that work against demons. I scan the pages and find one that might work, I read on and all I need is some natural black ink and the right incantation.

I fetch a large bowl of warm water and the gravity of my plan starts to irk me. The peace and monochromatic atmosphere of the tower makes me feel ridiculous and over dramatic, Beast Boy and Cyborg are playing Mega Monkey Racing and Robin is teaching Starfire to make sticky toffee puddings and Star has managed to sneak mustard into the sauce. She asked me what the water was for and I lied and said it was to put herbs in to help me meditate. Do I say goodbye? Do I leave note? Back in my room I decide to do neither, nothing I could say could help them understand why I need to do this. They can't see the future as I do, I'm going to die both ways and this way no one else has get hurt and no one has to live that future.

I draw a circle of protection in the middle of my floor with salt and cast symbols around the edges, I know He will try and stop me once he realises what I'm trying to do and the circle should prevent him reaching me. I sit cross legged in its centre with the bowl of water in front of me and I pull up the fabric of my sleeves. I take a deep breath and try and focus out my fear, I use a brush to etch the magical characters across my wrists. The black ink looks thick and glistening as it dries on my pale skin, and I begin the mantra of words that they book taught. The ink bubbles and turns a ruby red and with a gurgling and spitting it froths with my own blood. It hurts and when I plunge my hands into the warm water I see the deep cuts that have appeared and the whitish glow around them as my body fails to heal them. It is not long before the water has matched the colour of blood and I'm slowly hypnotised watching its level rise. I wonder briefly how long it might take and whether or not I'll pass out but decide instead to concentrate on my friends and hope that they'll be able to forgive me. My eyes start to droop and I feel light headed, it doesn't hurt anymore and I can't even feel my fingers. From the corner of my vision I think I'm hallucinating and see spurts of fire dancing around the floor, they move like snakes and glide in patterns towards me but stop when they reach my circle.

Did I just giggle?

There's a knock at my door, at least I think there is. I try to sound normal;

"Go away." But my voice sounds strange even to me and I can't take my eyes off the fire that is growing around my room.

"Raven? Are you okay only I walked past and it looks like strange things are coming under the door." It's Robin, hmm, how can I get rid of him? I'm not exactly thinking clearly, the blood has started spilling over the bowl and I guess I've lost just over a pint in four minutes.

"It's okay, I'm just hallucinating." Why did I just say that? He'll want to come in now.

"Raven, I'm coming in, is that okay?"

"No it's not." And I try to raise my arm to magic the door shut but I'm too slow and I knock the bowl over. He's rushing towards me, I must look a state and he's saying something at me. I can't make it out because the streaks of fire have surrounded my circle of protection and are burning through it. Before I can do anything two whips of flame lash out wrap themselves around my wrists, they drag me down sharply against the floor and I think I hear myself cry out. Robin's here and he pulling at my bonds but he is pushed away by some invisible force.

"Robin!"

There's that laughter again and I can no longer distinguish if it's in my head or not, two red gnarly hands start to grow out of the floor with thick black claw-like nails. They grab my wrists and I instantly feel a singeing agony and try desperately to struggle and thrash away. He's too strong and without the power of healing he burns my flesh closed. I'm close to passing out when he releases me, the room reels and I feel Robin shaking my shoulders. I resist the urge to throw up on him and instead try and focus on what is real: the fire is gone and my room is back to its normal gloom, Robin is talking to me again and it takes me a moment to register what he's saying.

"Raven, what were you thinking? What on Earth was going through your head? What-"he's flustered and has a thousand questions to bombard me with; most of them repeat each other.

"You can't understand." I stand up and inspect my wrists. They are glowing as my healing abilities take hold but because of the nature of the infliction of these cuts I'm left with ugly scars. I pull my sleeves back down.

"I could if you'd just let me try."

"You need to leave." My head is pounding. I need to be alone.

"Raven, you can't push me out of this. I can help with what you're going through." I start to edge him towards the door, I just can't argue about this now, not when my control is so weathered and thin.

"Robin, there is nothing you or anyone else can do."

"Killing yourself isn't the answer." He holds my arms tightly and I haven't the strength to push him off.

"You don't understand."

"Then Raven, you have to tell me." I can't stand situations like this and I can feel my temper start to snap.

"I'm not some suicidal repressed teen, I'm not a martyr and I'm certainly not a victim I can be more than what my destiny allows. I'm trying to do what is right." The usually monotony of my voice is gone and my fingers what to curl themselves into angry fists.

"However you see it, this can't be right." I know it's unwise of Robin to push this but I feel the need to make him understand if he can't just leave me alone.

"I _am_ going to die, Robin. Soon. You said yourself that the gem has to be destroyed."

"But not if it's you." He looks at me searchingly; I can sense that he is trying desperately to understand.

"When Trigon comes you won't be able to stop him. It doesn't matter how fast you are, how smart you are, how well the team can work together or how much you want it because you'll never be able to defeat him. He is the very manifestation of evil, every dark thought, selfish act or crime it feeds him, and he is as immortal as an idea because that was what he was born from." I'm breathing heavily and my lungs are tight, I've never felt this way before.

"If he is as powerful as you say, then why does he need you to get to Earth?"

"Because where there has been great evil there has always been great good, this plane is very heavily protected, even Azar herself has laid down various layers of defence but she died trying to protect Azarath from him and now there is no one left who can stand against him. He needs a physical link to this world, so he sired a child and that was all I was ever meant to be." I rub my temples again; visions of a burning Azarath plague me.

"If he comes we _will_ find a way to stop him, I cannot believe that there is no hope left." I admire Robin's determination but it will do him no good.

"There isn't, it is pointless to argue, and if you truly understand then you will help me find away to destroy my body.

"Raven!"

"I won't let him use me, it's the only way." I resist my anger enough not to raise my voice too much but I feel like I'm about to drown in my own emotions. "When I become his portal my body and soul will be torn apart and in the release of magic and energy _I _will obliterate everything, the skies will become fire, the land will become ash and the people will become as stone. I don't want to help him; I don't want to be this thing. By killing this body I sever his blood link to this world and I will set my own soul free, I'll never have to be his puppet, he'll never be able to use me again." He puts his arm around me and tries to calm me.

"Raven, listen to yourself. What about all of us? We're your friends and we can't let you do this to yourself."

"Do not tell them." I push him away and through my open door, he stands in the corridor and I know he won't leave yet, "I should have known you couldn't understand."

"I'm trying. But there must be some other magic that we could use...as added protection... to sever his link to you?

"Blood magic is one of the oldest kinds; there is not loop hole around it. I do not have the freedom of choice." My mind is buzzing; I need to meditate no matter how difficult it's been lately.

"There's always a choice."

"Save your inspirational drivel, I don't have a choice, I never had the choice, and I never had the freedom. Do you think I want this?" I go to shut the door, "You need to leave." I can barely hear my own thoughts, it feels like my mind is screaming and there are tears at the corners of my eyes.

"Raven, I just want to help."

"Well, you can't. So leave." I'm strained and pinch again at my temples but the shouting is starting. The prophecy is a deafening roar in my skull and Trigon's laughter starts up again. That infernal mocking laughter in my head! I fall to my knees clutching at my ears.

"Raven, what's happening?"

"Argh, GET OUT." I'm screaming and I can hear the others come running but that is all I can register outside of my own skin.

"Get out of my head. I won't let you." I press my forehead against the floor with my eyes screwed shut. I can feel Trigon trying to possess me through my rage; he sends me images of what he can make me do.

"Leave them out of this."

"Raven, what is it, what can I do?" I scream again and my power lashes out and throws him against the wall.

"Robin!" my vision is spinning but I see Starfire help him up. My power is flailing around in black tendrils and there is only one thing that can be done.

"Knock me out! ...DO IT NOW!"

I sense Cyborg approach and he has a sedative in his hand. Everything goes black.

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"Is she going to be okay?" Cyborg looked away from the monitors at his little green friend.

"Hmm?"

"She's not moving." The air in the infirmary was warm and still and the sterile pale room was a place that none of the titans enjoyed spending time in.

"She'll be fine. She's just under heavy sedation. She'll be out for a couple of hours I reckon." He turned his attention back to the monitors; he had hooked Raven up with a variety of wires and electrodes to her forehead and didn't like the readings he was getting. "I'm picking up some pretty heavy brain spikes."

"What does that mean?" Robin joined Cyborg next to the screens and started scanning them for what he could decipher.

"It means that she's screaming inside her head. By the looks of this intensity, if she was telepathic she could knock out every person in the city." He turned to Robin, "you were there, what happened to her?"

"I don't know for sure. But she's been under a lot of stress lately and I think Trigon's been taking advantage of that and tried to possess her or something." He crossed his arms frowning, "did you look at the schematics I drew up for a safety room?" Cyborg replies with only a nod.

"Oh friend Raven, I wish there was something that we could do to help you through your struggle." Starfire sat on a stall next to her friend, "do you think she can hear us?"

"I'm not sure, Star," Cyborg placed another receptor on her neck to monitor blood flow to the brain, "from what I know about Raven's psychology the battles she fights in her mind are real and Trigon has a direct connection to her through her rage so she's probably too far away to hear you."

"I've got an idea on how we can help her." Beast Boy snapped his fingers and ran out of the infirmary and headed towards Raven's room, "I'll be right back."

He shape-shifted into a wolf to run faster and skidded around the last corner to Raven's room with this back claws scrapping the floor as he went. In his excitement he didn't sense the blood until he'd bounced through the doorway. The pungent smell of it made him growl deeply in his throat and bare his teeth but he was long used to controlling animalistic instincts and edged further into the darkened room. He sniffed at the bowl and he could tell that there was something else to it: ink? He brushed some of the salt away with his paw it looked like it had been used in some kind of pattern.

Beast Boy sat back on his haunches, his tail thumped nervously on the ground and he let out a soft whine; it didn't take a genius to figure out that Raven had tried to do something to herself. He had never thought her capable. His friend had always seemed so much stronger than that, he didn't want to believe it, not without checking first.

But first, he'd come to her room to get her meditating mirror that had sucked Cyborg and himself into her mind almost a year ago. It was on her dresser like last time and he guessed that she'd been using it lately and had left it out. He carried it in his teeth and ran back to the infirmary.

He padded over to Cyborg and handed him the mirror changing back into his human form as he did so.

"Nice, doggy slobber." he wiped off the drool with a tissue, "nasty, it's not natural the amount of drool you can produce." Beast Boy just stuck his tongue out at him and with his back to Cyborg and the others as he explained what the mirror was, he turned Raven's wrist towards himself and rolled up her sleeve a fraction. There was a jagged white scar livid against her already deathly skin, it was about a centimetre thick and looked deep. He sighed and pushed her sleeve back.

"- so theoretically we could travel into her mind and help her." Starfire was studying the mirror; the surface had gone an inky black and no longer showed a reflection.

"Marvellous. But how do we make it work?" She continued to turn the mirror around in her hands, "I am very doubtful that there will be an 'on switch'."

"BB, you managed it last time, why don't you try popping another zit in it."

"I would if my skin wasn't so flawless. Besides it wasn't all black before, I think she's keeping us out."

A red siren started flashing alerting the Titans to trouble, they all looked at each other and at the brain monitor which, was still rapidly fluctuating.

"Someone should stay."

"I will Robin, but can I talk to you quickly. It's important."

"Beast Boy, this isn't the time. The city needs us."

"I know. I wouldn't ask if it wasn't really important."

Cyborg was looking at the report in his arm screen, "Robin you can catch us up, it's just Doctor Light he's at the power station." With a nod Cyborg and Starfire raced out of the room in hot pursuit. Beast Boy tugged on Robin's arm and manoeuvred him away from Raven, he knew that Cyborg had said that she probably couldn't hear them but he looked over his shoulder anyway.

"Robin, did Raven try to... did she do this to herself?"

He didn't want to answer due to respect for Raven's privacy but he wasn't about to lie to a direct question from Beast Boy, he dithered for a moment struggling to find what to say. "... It's complicated."

"That doesn't mean I won't understand." Robin looked down at the younger teen, when the team had formed he had read up on Beast Boy's file and despite the bad jokes and pranks, he was far from naive.

"She did, but it's not what you might think. She said if she destroyed her body then Trigon couldn't use it to come to Earth, that her soul would be free. But he stopped her, he needs her alive... at least for a little bit longer." He ran his fingers through his hair; he barely understood Raven and didn't really feel qualified to explain what had happened.

"..."

"Beast boy, she doesn't want anyone to know what she tried to do." He walked back over to her bedside finding it difficult to know that she was so conflicted inside when she looked so peaceful.

"But we're her friends. Can't we help her?"

"Apparently not." The day with its chain of events had given him a lot to contemplate and he didn't look back round the room when he left to get his motorcycle and join the other.

"But that doesn't mean we still can't try."

Beast Boy sat on the stall where Starfire had been and swivelled for a while, should he talk to her, pat her hand or try and comfort her? Something told him that she probably wouldn't appreciate it. He sighed and span round a couple more times.

"So I expect the others are kicking Doctor Light's butt by now, though it's more fun when your there to make him almost wet himself. I swear that if just one time you make him do it I'll give you ten bucks or something." He laughed nervously, being alone in a room with Raven was a rare and usually terrifying experience but when it came down to it Raven was always there for you and the team. He glanced at the monitor screens and back to the mirror picking it up and looking at its blank surface, "Raven, what should I do?"

"For a start you can put down my mirror."

"Eeeryp!" he turned rapidly almost dropping it and saw Raven sitting up normally and pulling the wires from her skin with faint popping sounds.

"Can you pass me my cloak?" she pinched the bridge of her nose and held her other hand out as he passed it to her.

"Raven, are you okay? You scared us, are you still yourself?"

"I'm just peachy." She groaned and swayed a little, "I could use a cup of tea."

"No worries, just wait here I'll go make you one."

She felt exhausted both physically and mentally but she felt _herself_ and that meant everything at the moment. He couldn't control her, she had found the strength to fight him and she vowed never again would he be given that opening, would she show that much weakness. She yawned and wrapping her cloak around her body she laid back, by the time Beast Boy returned with a steaming and badly made cup of tea she was fast asleep curled up like a cat. He didn't fail to notice the tiniest of smiles across her lips.

* * *

**TEA SOLVES EVERYTHING. I do not know who likes tea more; Iroh (Avatar), Raven or my friend Connie who thinks that a two litre teapot isn't be big enough.**

**And if anyone would like to tell me how to spell that adorable little sound Beast Boy makes when he is surprised it would be fantastic.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I don't think Raven is all emotional and suicidal and tried to get across that she's more of a fighter and that she would do anything to save her friends. Death is an entirely different concept for her, and when she dies in the comics (The Terror of Trigon) her soul is set free and wanders the Earth (I think). She apparently comes back at one point and wrecks Starfire's and Nightwing's wedding but I haven't read that one, but she is reincarnated by the newest Brother Blood.**

**Just to geek-out further, Gabriel's horn is the horn that The Herald uses, tons of cake to those who spotted my mention of it.**

**Please review; I'm not sure whether to do a chapter between or during 'the end' episodes because there aren't gaps between them, or to just go straight to doing an epilogue to the series.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I know this took a long time, but with June came exams and though I know what I would rather had been doing, guilt got the best of me and revision came first. But it's over, yay, and I have about a week left until my job starts and after I move house tomorrow I'm free! Anyway about the chapter, this one is set during the season's finale. It's a bit drabble-ish as it isn't a recap of the scenes it's just bits and bobs in between where I enjoyed expanded on some concepts, hope you like it too. **

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* * *

  
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During: The End

I step backwards from Robin releasing his hand, a touch that lingers as I sweep a black dome across the cavern separating myself from them. The thick air like a whispering ghost whips around my cloak and hair and I tear my gaze from them and before my feet erect a climbing walkway. I can't hide from destiny anymore.

They're calling at me but I daren't turn back, I was a fool to think that I could change anything, change what I am, what I was destined to do. Who was I deceiving more by trying to help people, myself or them? I can't outweigh the sins of my blood with good intentions and death shall be my retribution for there is no redemption down this path. I guess the saying is right: that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

And I'm glad no one can see my face as I ascend the narrow staircase, even if I wanted to weep I can't I'm as dry and cold as the stone beneath my shoes. My soul a wretched barren desert bleached of life watching the stars wink out and my bones turn to paper, I no longer desire to cry out to the heavens to the deciders of fate in a ostensible display of self pity . Every essence of decency and morality in my soul was from my friends it was only right that I gave the good in me back to them when I transferred a piece of my spirit to them. My last act of selflessness will be to save them, to keep them safe and I couldn't let them be tainted by this demonic evil.

I look inside myself and all I feel is a swelling empty darkness as if even the briefest times that I had felt normal and human had been snuffed out and swallowed in greed. I stand on the palm of my fate outreached and welcoming, it beacons to cradle its daughter, its tool, its freedom. Stone hand of my father I beseech to you nothing, in this umbra of your unnatural manufacture we are bound. The prophecy has begun. The incantation rises from my throat and the ancient scripture branded to me blisters openly on my skin only to peel away and hover red and fierce around me. A surge of incredible power feels like it is being driven into me like an exploding star that clefts me right down through my centre. I don't cry out, I can't breathe, there is only pain and from my shaking fingers the penny Beast Boy gave me drops silently and with it my last fragment of hope falls.

Be safe

* * *

The tendons of reality are ripped and shredded, a woven fabric of spells that held the dimensions apart are torn asunder and an ominous shudder is felt throughout the multiverse. The prison is open and every magical creature senses the approach of the very heart of evil. A red demonic being rises from the depths of the open portal, his arm outstretched in victory and everyone shall fear the coming of Trigon the Terrible.

"The Earth is _mine._"

It is a war cry that ripples outwards in a thunderous wave of destruction, its wake a desolate and lifeless tundra as all life is fossilised into tortured shells, their minds and souls now the playthings of Trigon's desire. The buildings are cracked and broken, dangerous crumbling giants with gaping faceless fronts with empty windows as gateways to a red ravaged sky. The sky an expanse of fire and shadows, clouds whirling like a frothing cyclone of blood its epicentre above the beast. He sits upon his throne watching the ants of humanity: the last dregs of resistance trying desperately to attack him with some recycled magic from his departed daughter. How disgustingly hopeful and naive, how slowly shall he torment and break them.

"Be gone." And the last of the Titans, the last of this Earth's heroes are tossed aside like sweet wrappers on the wind.

Bereft is a world claimed and shaken, its shrines to civilisation now unmarked tombs sooty and bleak left now, only with an oppressive silence which shows no breath. In the cavernous mouth of the portal a bargain is made between heroes and their mortal foe to save a friend;

"It's the end of the world; did you think it would be easy?"

* * *

Fate tugs on the strings of his dominion sending two knights like puppets down a vast and spiralling staircase, the game is getting interesting again. The boy hero and his greatest adversary now turned guide to journey through the nightmarish realm of hell makes good entertainment for the weaver of destiny.

Robin was tense as he followed Slade down what seemed an endless abyss, his muscles tort expecting some kind of treachery on Slade's behalf and though none came from the figure in front he kept vigilant and sceptical. In fact, nothing came from that gloomy shape in the darkness, not breath nor words, even his footsteps were stifled by the dusty sloping path. And as their route grew darker and more quiet he felt his mind playing tricks on him, voices whispering of traps and misgivings until at one point he thought himself alone, so alone that he couldn't sense his own being or heartbeat. His mental wandering was interrupted by the ground levelling under his path and Slade spoke out.

"Welcome to Hell, Robin, would you like the tour? There's no turning back after we pass through this door."

"I never have before." At their approach two wooden torches flamed into life revealing a heavy iron doorway pressed into the rock. The thick doors rose high above them, the surface seemed wet with sweat, above was an inscription that looked like it had been scratched into it with blunt nails. As Robin focused on the lettering it shifted and reformed in English, the familiarity of the last line catching his attention;

"Abandon every hope, all you who enter? _The_ gates of hell? You've got to be kidding me." In his surprise Robin momentarily forgot himself and the possible danger of being in close quarters with his enemy, but Slade just stood nonchalantly as if about to open a kitchen cupboard instead of the infamous gates of no return.

"Why?" without a grunt of effort he dragged the cast iron door open as it scraped up stones along the gritty floor.

"Well, look what's written up there."

"What were you expecting?"But Robin seemed somewhat reluctant to press on, paranoid, perhaps expecting an elaborate hoax. Ignoring the boy's hesitation Slade strode forward and within a few strides heard Robin following again.

"Well, it's exactly what I was expecting. That's the problem, is this place even real or is it an illusion feeding on my preconceptions." The hard dry rock had been replaced with a dried cracked mud under foot and their pathway was no longer narrow instead opening up into an impossibly vast landscape.

"You're not hallucinating Robin, if anything this place is warped to incorporate human understanding. After all aren't we damned to walk its hallowed paths?" Robin wasn't sure if he should believe anything Slade said, the landscape was hazy and shifting. With Slade's signal he had kept to an unseen route that took them across the region quicker than what should have been feasible.

"Who then, I don't see anyone. I thought the saying went that hell was other people, I believe that there is good in people but an empty hell makes little sense." His foot sunk into the thick bluish mud but he took little notice when Slade's next comment sent a chill up his spine because in the moment that he blinked it felt true.

"Really? I see thousands of people in this limbo."

* * *

Beast Boy found himself being slammed into the ground again from a great height and converted briefly back into human form. Rubbing at the base of his spine for all the good it would do, he morphed into a mammoth to take on his dark counterpart who was diving towards him. Upon impact the diving hawk changed into a hippo but Beast Boy managed to toss away his attack with his tusks, but only just as a fractured tusk is hard to ignore.

_Come on B, this isn't about how strong or fast you can be. You gotta think faster and hope your darker side is the stupid one. Go cheetah before he gets up._ He changed whilst at full sprint then used his extra legs to accelerate himself further, the twin dodged his first launch and turned into a gorilla swiping his long hefty arms at Beast Boy who ducked and clawed back. He sunk his teeth into a hairy forearm and through thick fur punctured the skin, the taste of blood alien and metallic. Another fist swung back and punched him away, Beast Boy was driven into the Earth and flipped back in human form with a split lip and bruised jaw. The other walked towards him also in human form and for the moment they sized each other up trying to guess first which animal their foe would choose.

"Is that all you got? You're pathetic, and you call yourself a Titan. You don't belong on this team; you're always letting them down making them pick up _your_ slack. Always falling behind dragging them down, the Doom Patrol was glad to be shot of you."

Beast Boy wiped the blood from his chin that had dried and scabbed over, and with a snarl leapt and changed into bull ready to run down his twin and make him a greasy stain on the floor, but he met him mid charge with the clashing antlers of a moose. _I am so going to have a major headache when this is over._

Overhead, just speeding blips of conflict against the tumultuous sky, were Starfire and her evil side in an evenly matched clash of the alien warrior powerhouses. Starfire was used to reigning in her strength against some of her more fragile human opponents also weakening her starbolts though that was also to conserve energy. But the air was so clogged and dark she was finding it difficult to recharge her energies from the sun; a problem her counterpart didn't appear to be having. The landscape blurred beneath her as flew in a high sickle arc and brought her feet together in a devastating assault that sent the dark Starfire hurtling through the carcass of an empty building. She followed it up with a barrage of starbolts to bring the ruins tumbling down on top of her. Through the clouding ash that had developed and curled its way from the wreck in big pluming clouds the black Starfire began launching pieces of the debris.

"Look at you warrior, Robin could never want you, he'll never love you, he can only fear your strength. Why do you even bother to try to fit in? You do not belong on this world."

Starfire cracked her knuckles and with her eyes glowing with an internal green inferno ploughed fists first into the taunting figure below. The pair gauged a deep crevice through the weeping ruins of Jump city throwing up chunks of concrete and tarmac from the leftover streets.

Nearby the two cyborgs fought mercilessly each bowling punches that could shatter normal bones but instead fell on titanium armour that rang out musically with each resounding punch.

"You don't have a hope in hell; I know all your weaknesses robot."

"Right back at ya." Cyborg flicked out one of his fingers to use his soldering tool as he managed to get through the other's defence and burn through some wires in a tiny gap under his arm joint. The dark Cyborg stumbled for a moment the fingers in his left hand twitching involuntarily.

"Trying to trigger a detonation in my shoulder rockets? Well you missed." He laughed needlessly and fired a platoon of small missiles from both of his shoulders. "I didn't."

* * *

They had climbed down a precarious and deep cliff face of the gorge to the edge of a fast flowing river of fire. It slumped at and girded the rabble of the shore beneath their feet and cooled slightly on the surface turning it an ashy black that split above the flow of magma to reveal deep red veins. No normal boat could cross its depths and the one designed to do the job wasn't made of wood or steel. The boat Slade and Robin used was made of a rough grey stone and on further inspection Robin dusted away a section of its surface and saw pieces of bone and teeth fossilised into its structure. Robin steeped his fingers watching Slade row as there was only two oars, again he showed no strain to this physical effort, the oars also being made of stone.

"I need to know what you know, about Trigon. With or without Raven how do I stop him? He's got to have a weakness and I'm guessing that you might know it." Slade considered the youth opposite him and though was not one to spill information easily unless it was to misguide and torment he decided to part ways with what knowledge he had collected on Trigon.

"You guess correctly, I don't make deals with people unless I have a security plan. Though with Trigon I had little choice at the time he offered something only he could give. As I kept up my end of the bargain I made it my business to learn all I could about him which lead me to, amongst other things, to the ring of Azar." The boat's progress was sluggish against the thick tide of magma and the towering pillars of the gorge gurgled out spewing streams of it to adding to the flow.

"The Book of Trigon-"

"There's a book?"

"Don't interrupt with stupid questions. You still have little patience. The Book of Trigon states him to be the eighth evolution of the Devil which puts him almost in a league of his own when it comes to demons. He's the original, the first fear, the source of all fear perhaps.

"You are traversing through the realm of fear, every nightmare, every menace enveloped in the dark recess of the mind. You know that Raven's powers reside on pure emotions that's not necessarily a common attribute for a witch or a demon and certainly counterintuitive in a human. I imagine that it is both restricting and frustrating for a monster struggling to be human-"

"Raven never let herself become a monster, you know nothing about her!" Silence clung around the boat after Robin's angry outburst and Slade let it linger before continuing.

"I know what she's wrought to this world; you saw the destruction up there. But before you interrupt me again, you wanted to learn more about Trigon and my point is thus: Raven's powers are akin to her fathers; his also are strengthened by emotion; every dark and foreboding thought from sentient life throughout the universe feeds him; all the eternal rage and hate of the devil and you want to know how to defeat that." Robin's eyes narrowed under his mask and he kept his arms folded as he surveyed Slade.

"So we have a paradox: was Trigon spun from the idea of evil or is the origin of all darkness Trigon himself?"

"Which thought would comfort you more? Either way you are as much the walking dead as I."

As if by a schedule Trigion's fiery servants started to writhe out of the current below and detach themselves from the flowing columns of magma. An army of nearly mindless demons edged towards the intruders swiping their flaming tentacles at their flanks.

* * *

_Get up, you cannot fail Robin. He would never fail you, he is coming back, he promised, he promised he'd bring Raven back too. _Starfire stumbled out of the crater that her untoward landing had created and managed to look up in time to see her counterpart barrel into to her, she stood her ground against the impact the loose earth sinking further beneath her. The dark Starfire grabbed a fistful of her other self's red hair and threw her face down against the dirt and between kicks continued to taunt her;

"He's not coming back, why would he? For you? You're just fooling yourself." Starfire shielded her face from the blows until she grabbed the other girls foot in both hands, with loud and echoing snap she twisted her grip and broke a bone. The dark Starfire fell to the ground with a strangled cry and shot out a twin red beam of energy from her eyes sending the real Starfire reeling back into the recesses of another building. She picked herself up and flew towards the wreckage opposite hurling abuse and screaming.

"You're a coward, who even slavery wasn't enough, someone like you deserves death!" She entered the building through one of the many glassless windows and floated through the detritus and crumbling filth and caught a glimpse of Starfire running up a shady staircase. "Your escape from slavery only fuelled Tamarans demise. Did you even think of the people you loved when you decided to stay on Earth? A planet that doesn't want you. Think of your parents, you forgot about them and now they're dead." She blasted through the ceiling with her curled fist glowing crimson, the dregs of steel and concrete decaying from the edges of the hole she'd made. "There you are."

Starfire flew out of the top window turning back sending out her fierce green eye lasers in a long line across the building sending it down collapsing onto her evil side. But her breath of relief was short lived.

"You'll have to do better than that warrior, what are you really capable of?" Ash and bits and pieces of rubble fell from her as she dashed back and the aerial assault continued high above the remains of Jump city. Like two spitfires they circled each other firing out long streams of starbolts, stray ones gutting out the fragments of building that they hit.

"You fled your planet when it needed you most. You alone condemned Tarmaran and then refused to stay when you returned months ago. You left the crown to someone not of pure blood, you abandoned your people you should have resigned yourself to slavery."

"I won't be a slave to anyone. No one will own me again. No one!" She flipped back landing an accurate kick to her evil opponent's chin and when she fell towards the earth Starfire grabbed her shoulder set on burying her. "No one."

The pair collided with such force that the ground shook and trembled, a shockwave boomed outwards leaving a crater deep in the centre and wide in diameter. The impact rippled across the streets making the ground flow like water and knocking down the two robots that were pummelling and breaking off pieces of each other. The Cyborgs fight had mostly been a close range boxing match each hitting harder and harder wearing down enamelled coating, bits of it chipped off of knuckles and chests. Cyborg grunted as he blocked an aggressive right hook, the impact shuddered up his arms and he retaliated with an under cut to the gut. His evil counterpart bent over double feigning injury as he aimed a punch at Cyborg's left kneecap that he had already landed awkwardly on.

"Come on, give me what ya got, freak. Or are you just useless parts."

Electrical discharges sparked around his joints and along the hair thin cracks in his armour but Cyborg stood up straight and charged at his opponent under a barrage of fire and insults.

"You're less than half a person, you frighten people. You'll never be a real man and they'll never see you as more than a tin imitation."

A quarter of a mile away Beast Boy wasn't faring any better, after bounding sharply round several tight turns as a kangaroo he sought momentary refuge in a narrow alley behind what used to be the video store. The constant changing from giant animals to small ones or from cold blooded to warm blooded were taking its toll and he just needed to catch his breath. Going from T-Rex to mouse could really make you dizzy; he hoped that the others were doing better than he was. He turned into a small frog and shivered further into the shadows as he heard his counterpart approach the alley's mouth.

"I know you're cowering near. What makes you think you have even the slightest hope? You couldn't save your parents; deep down you know it was your fault. You couldn't save Terra and you couldn't save Raven, effectively, you watched both of them die. Raven's dead, you saw her die, do you honestly think Robin is coming back, you might as well give up like you always do, like you gave up on the Doom Patrol. Face it: You can't even save yourself."

Beast Boy pushed himself further against the brick wall behind him listening to his evil twin pushing aside rocks and bricks to find him.

"Admit it, you're a failure, you only let people down, you hurt them. Who will die next because of you?"

Beast Boy came sprinting out from his hiding place with his knuckles clenched and tears prickling the corners of his eyes. He didn't bother changing into any animal but was driven by the same wild kind of instincts that fuelled by his anger landed blow after blow against his dark mirror image. Who spat blood back at him whilst grinning.

"Go on change; show me what you can be. You're just an animal, a vicious primal animal. Come on show me!"

Both boys changed at the same time becoming shaggy wild beasts with powerful jaws and razor shape claws. Two beasts of equal proportions: one black with glowing red eyes the other a dark green with eyes a ferocious white.

* * *

Robin and Slade made their way deeper through the rocky terrain, down narrow treacherous pathways that draped the steep and unforgiving cliffs like thrown spaghetti. At each step the air grew crowded and seemed to bellow in Robin's lungs and condense in his throat. It was a foul and rotten stench that permeated all skin that crawled into your nose and gagged at your tongue. Robin gave up trying to protect his nose and mouth from it and instead tried to focus.

"We're running out of time, it took Dante three days to traverse hell."

"We're not going through it, and besides there are trans-dimensional demi-paths that we can take."

"You mean short cuts. Staff only?" The path was blocked where a large section had crumbled away destroying more sections of their route further down the cliff face. They'd have to climb down but at least it would be quicker Robin mused to himself. "Where is Raven? Is she... dead?"

"Yes and no. But you won't find her with the rest of the dead and sinners, she'll be lost in the remains of an Azarathian church that was built in secret when Azarath was a strong enough essence to send watchmen down to control and watch over Trigon. This dimension, this hell it was his prison too."

"Where angels fear to tread." Both fell silent and continued their laborious climb downwards, the rock felt dangerously loose in places but there were breaks in their course where they rejoined the original walkway. It took a moment for Robin to realise that they had reached the bottom of their climb as it had grown pitch black. He felt around the walls and found that they were in narrow corridor and every so often a bitter squall of wind would whip past in short bursts and when they did he thought he heard whispers and pleas.

"Could have used your fire powers now."

"Fortunately I can find my way without them. Besides don't you have a torch tucked away somewhere?" Slade was a lot closer to him than Robin had originally guessed but as he spoke he started walking away and he followed the sound of his voice and footsteps in the pervading darkness.

"Must have left it in my other belt." The erratic gusts of winds where disorientating seeming to come from different directions and he took to keeping his hand on one side of the rough and winding corridor. "There's more to this, isn't there." Slade was disinclined to answer, either that or the winds had carried Robins words away, he tried again louder.

"The prophecy, Raven, the end of the world: this isn't just it, there's more. All this stuff about fate and destiny? If it was the end then we wouldn't be here, still fighting and Raven would be dead."

The path was sloping downwards now and with each unknown step deeper Slade's voice took on a hypnotic quality, like a powerful presence that the prevailing gusts could not whip away upwards to the rolling whispers.

"Your optimism is admirable, and to an extent you are correct. Destiny dug its claws into Raven deeper than she imagined, and wove a web around her, you, me and even Trigon. We are all the pieces to some elaborate game, as to its outcome I do not know."

"But you seem to know the rules."

"On the contrary, I don't even pretend to. But to keep in accordance with the metaphor at least I've been given a couple of cards to play with. I found another version of the prophecy.

"The ruins of Azarath were one of the first of the places I looked for information on Trigon and it proved most fruitful. Where the chambers of Scathe under the library were full of inscriptions of his power and influence what I found in Azarath showed details of many great battles against him, in particular a tale of his greatest defeat that imprisoned him. The details are scarce and it isn't named what force conquered Trigon as it was thousands of years before Azarath existed but it is suggested that the war waged almost completely destroyed its victors. Its survivors became the ancestors of Azarath and the protectors of the prophecies conceived from darkness.

"The prophecy you know came from Trigon's followers thousands of years before Raven was even born, she is not his first child but is the first one to survive beyond birth, I am assuming that a blend of human and demon DNA isn't the most stable and I believe that most of the women who were lured into the cult of Scathe and drugged died in pregnancy.

"However Raven's mother managed to escape and was found by Azar, who understanding the circumstances took her to Azarath to give birth to and raise the child. You may be wondering why she didn't just kill the baby."

"Actually I wasn't. It doesn't surprise me that people don't go around killing unborn babies."

"Even ones destined to destroy the world? Look around, look what she's done. Would you kill one baby to save billions?"

"I'd find another way."

"That's what Azar did; she sensed something good in Raven so she spared her. On the day of her birth they looked into her future and saw it in written in stone that the prophecy would come to pass, that the world would become bathed in fire but what came after was uncertain and Azar saw a chance for a new prophecy."

They had come to the end of the series of dark and towering tunnels and the wind gave way to freezing rain and boisterous clumps of hail. Slade gestured to a closed up archway carved into the corner of a sloping cliff. He pushed some of the emblems on the rim of the arch and the gateway opened, the stone blocking the way dissolved. Their new route was a cold stone passage with towering ceilings and gruesome demons painted on the walls. The images now old and decaying but the mud red paint still leapt out in areas. After the darkness of the wind tunnels the torches that flared into life as they entered were harsh and bright. Slade handed Robin a scrap of paper that was charred at the edges.

It read; _The gem was born of evil's fire_

_The gem shall be his downfall_

_Of equal strength_

_And pure desire_

_Evil fear the Raven's call._

"Saying that I believe you, is it Raven's destiny to save the world and destroy her father?"

"Raven's destiny is in her own hands for the first time in her life, I said that the future was unclear. The new prophecy suggests that she has the power to do so, it doesn't mean that she will, she'll have to step out of the shadows that the old prophecy has cast her in her whole life. But it was Azar that took the child under her wing and taught her what she needed to defeat Trigon, and so far, though unintentionally Raven has started to forge her own fate.

"Azar taught Raven to separate her soul from her body, it's how her powers work; she projects pieces of her soul into objects to move them and has on occasion projected her whole soul in raven form. It was this trick that could assure that when Raven's body was destroyed and seemingly her soul as well that there is piece of herself left. I saw her outside the tower when she knocked you and your friends unconscious, she didn't just impart some of her powers to you she gave you each a part of her soul, a good part, her hope and her love... you get the picture. Whether she meant to or not what she had done made all of you an anchor for her so that she didn't dissolve into oblivion with the creation of the portal.

"Raven had to become the portal and at the same time she had to die. Her body was consumed by the portal and with it a part of Trigon's influence over her. Or what is left of her."

"What's that supposed to mean, you keep saying she's not the Raven I knew and that I wouldn't like what I find."

"What is left of Raven is a purity that even her father could not taint."

"How do you know all this?"

"Like I said I searched the ruins of Azarath and I found the final resting place of Azar." With nothing left to say Slade continued in silence to the end of the passage leaving Robin to muse over their conversation. Their journey together was also coming to an end as they were approaching the parting of ways. Slade's path would lead him deep into the eighth level of hell to a locked chamber of lost and hopeless souls. Whereas Robin's quest would lead him to the last refuge of the pure in this forsaken place.

* * *

Shadows. I was playing in the darkness, everywhere and nowhere, I am gaping yawning darkness in the space less breath between dimensions. Then why do I feel sand between my fingers? Gritty little particles. They count time; each grain witnesses its passing. I was playing in the sand. No, I'm waiting on a hard and marble floor, I was split open and they'll come to gouge me clean. Pulling out yielding gelatinous packets, wobbling writhing tubular things; I don't need them anymore throw them to become screaming feathered masses. Let the birds feed in the sand. Why do gulls scream like babies? Empty now. Stuff me with the golden timeless sand and the vacated shells of snails, sucked clean, too, by the ravenous birds. Ravenous. Raven, raving ravens, raging ravens.

Pluck their feathers, oily plumage slick with a thousand underlying colours in their wings and tuck them in my hair. Don't forget the rubies for the blood I didn't mean to spill, I promise I'll clean it up, and the penny for my heart dated 1964, its coppery surface has lost its shine. I'm lost. Where are the buttons; I couldn't cry them so how will they sew me up? But don't douse me with vinegar I don't want the bitterness. Stuff me with sand the sawdust won't do, the dead will find it itchy. Dead? I'm not dead, don't be silly, Raven, you'll die tied to a tree being eaten by the ants. I watched the ants, they weren't eating the dead; I was playing, I watched the ants playing in the sand and they were marching along the matchsticks.

I was playing in the sand: I built a house, it had little windows and a garden fence made from matchsticks, I used a bucket and it was blue but it wasn't mine.

Enough of this terror, I deserve to see truth and grow ever less blinded and blind. I open my eyes and I'm in the ruinous shell of a church, it's gutted and rubble lies in big bundles. I can see its backbone; it is broken too. Where did the sand box go? I was going to make a whole village of small houses and when I'm done Azar said she wants to talk to me. She said;

"What a pretty house you've made. When you're finished playing I'd like to talk to you. Don't worry Raven, you've done nothing wrong but it's important. Now you're older you can understand, but first you can finish your game."

But I don't know where the sand box went and now Azar won't be able to find me. The stick people I found won't be able to have a home, I tied leaves to their heads to give them hair but where will they live now? Not in this musty old church. How will Azar find me here? I'm lost and she said she needed to tell me something important. I should have stopped playing and listened. And all I can hear now are the screaming gulls and ravens, but I see a little robin he twitters around and I think he's looking for me.

But I'm lost.

"Hello, is anyone here... Raven?"

* * *

The others had found themselves exhausted and surrounded but in a last minute decision switched opponents. Their evil counterparts, taken by surprise, were at a loss when the three titans bolted into them. Each evil was banished back to their hosts, each a small victory but as the beast stated pointless against a greater force more powerful than any they had previously faced.

* * *

"This is the story of Raven. She was my very good friend and she was very brave. Together we fought evil. We beat monsters and villains, and we kept our city safe."

Robin spins a tale around me; his words weave in and out and like the flashing of moving pictures I see our city. The monsters that threatened it blink in and out of my vision, changing every fraction of a second, there are big glutinous monsters with pounding fists, fast magical villains and I hear the clips and quirks of pointless banter. I remember all the places I used to go, I feel like a dam has burst in my mind and I'm awash with images that make little sense like a scattered jigsaw. The towering wall we're climbing up begins to tremble and we go sliding down, I try to hold on to Robin but I can't.

"Raven!"

He plunges after me without fear and we're safe for the moment. Robin, the Titans that's what they do, it's what I used to do: we made people safe. But I can't help anymore; I'm just a fragment of what I used to be, I can't help, I can't do anything and I tell him so. He shrugs off my doubt and we continue our climb, he's says that he'll just have to have enough hope for the both of us and I can't even begin to understand how he does it.

We reach the surface and for the first time I witness the depth of the devastation my actions have caused. It's a shadow of what I remember with the empty buildings baring the shape of the city but their faces expose them for the hollowness they've become. What frightens me the most are the people stuck in fearful stone poses and I sense them alive inside their dreams being invaded by Trigon's evil. I hear them screaming inside my head.

We find the others and I know that they try to hide their disappointment. I was supposed to be their white angel to swoop in as a beacon of hope and vanquish evil, like a story. Robin bends down to talk to me.

"This is your story, Raven. And I'm not sure what happens next. I know it seems hopeless but I believe that when the time is right you _will_ know what to do." I don't know what I can tell him, I'm not like him, I'm not like them.

But each one of them is a hero and they make their own stories with their own endings, in one last desperate and spirited attempt they pitch up all their strength and go to attack the very source of darkness. It is their purity and sincerity that carries them and it hurts him. It is short lived and one by one the Titans fall under the fierce fiery beams of Trigon's rage and I feel my own stir as he looms over me. What does Starfire call it: righteous fury?

"Farewell dear daughter," under the influence of his power and sarcastic sneering he can't even touch me. My fist glows with an intense white fire and I stare at it incredulously as it wiggles around my fingers.

"You may have retained some trace of my power but you are still no threat to me, little girl. I am your creator, your master. You exist only to serve me. You survive only because I allow it. What hope can a mere child have at defeating her all powerful father!"

He's wrong, what I feel inside isn't some remnant of his power; it contains none of his darkness. This power comes from me; this shall be my legacy not this bittersweet desolation. I feel it build up like a thousand solar flares and it sets my chakra gem aflame, this pure energy flows violently through my body making me complete again.

"You may have created me. _But you were never my father_." I become the embodiment of light and I sense all the souls of this world and the next, all the hope and goodness in people, I feel the peace of my people who perished under Trigon. I am purged of his darkness and through the ultimate benevolence that they taught me I can corrupt his evil.

"Fathers are kind! Fathers protect you! Fathers raise you!" the energy swells in my hands, my friend taught me how to fight for those how could protect themselves, they taught me to hope and helped me to believe that I could become more than what he fated me to become. Never again will I fear him; never again will I doubt myself.

"I was protected by the monks of Azarath. I was raised by my friends." My friends join me and I take comfort in their presence and I can feel the faith they hold in me. Trigon stumbles back from my attacks, he is helpless, unable to protect himself from the forces that he has fought to destroy for millennia.

"They are my family.

"This is my home.

"And you are not welcome here!"

With the cry of my mantra I unleash the full capacity of my soul like Azar taught me as a child and a brilliant white raven flies against Trigon, it's wings fill the sky and he is burned by it as it envelopes him. He cries out in defeat and is swept away in my virtuous influence that spreads outwards covering the Earth. We rarely get the opportunity to recant our actions, but today I get to take back what I've done and restore this world that has raised me.

I descend from the sky now a glorious blue and feel the sun on my skin for what feels like the first time, and perhaps it is the first time I've ever really appreciated it. My mind is a blur with thoughts as the others gather round me; I can only begin to imagine what this could mean for me. A new life not hindered by a prophecy. A second chance: how many people get that?

* * *

**Phew, hope I got all the errors there. Um hope you enjoyed this chapter, a little over dramatic perhaps but I re-watched the episodes and it does get quite tense in a few places. I hope it flowed okay because obviously it's not the full episodes just bits and pieces.**

'**fellow 80's comic fan' I did pick up my copy of 'the terror of Trigon,' and pieced together some ideas from it and some of the dialogue between the titans and their evil counterparts as I thought it might show a little more depth to their characters. I've tried to find titans hunt but haven't been able to which is a shame because it looks like a good story; I mostly have the later ones starting from a kid's game.**

**I picked up on some other influences as you might have guessed from Dante's inferno. I would have put the full incantation written above the gates of hell because it's pretty chilling but I found two versions of it;**

**THROUGH ME THE WAY INTO THE SUFFERING CITY,  
THROUGH ME THE WAY TO THE ETERNAL PAIN,  
THROUGH ME THE WAY THAT RUNS AMONG THE LOST.  
JUSTICE URGED ON MY HIGH ARTIFICER;  
MY MAKER WAS DIVINE AUTHORITY, THE HIGHEST WISDOM, AND THE PRIMAL LOVE.  
BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS WERE MADE, AND I ENDURE ETERNALLY.  
ABANDON EVERY HOPE, WHO ENTER HERE.**

**and**

___**I AM THE WAY INTO THE DOLEFUL CITY,**_

___**I AM THE WAY INTO ETERNAL GRIEF,**_

___**I AM THE WAY TO A FORSAKEN RACE**_

___**JUSTICE IT WAS THAT MOVED MY GREAT CREATOR;**_

___**DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE CREATED ME,**_

___**AND HIGHEST WISDOM JOINED WITH PRIMAL LOVE.**_

___**BEFORE ME NOTHING BUT ETERNAL THINGS**_

___**WERE MADE, AND I SHALL LAST ETERNALLY.**_

___**ABANDON EVERY HOPE, ALL YOU WHO ENTER.**_

**Though, for those who are interested but don't want to read the whole divine comedy there is a book called Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle which is a nice modern remake of the classic. Instead of Dante being led by Virgil it has a science fiction writer who died falling off a balcony whilst drunk being led by a very different historical figure (though I won't tell you which unless you really want to know.)**

**Anyway, back to fan fiction. I almost didn't put the bit in with Raven's narrative in the church where she was confused and hallucinating, I rewrote it several times and I know it's quite strange but ... erg I don't know. **

**Please review and let me know what you think of anything, all comments are helpful, though I won't be able to reply past tomorrow for a couple of weeks because I shall be left without the internet. Just one more chapter for this story: a kind of epilogue that I've got a couple of idea for. **

**Thanks for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

**why is it when i'm at my busiest with end of term exams , presentataions, lab reports work and other such things that i've finally found the time to finish this? maybe it's the motivation to procrastinate when the last thing i want to do is revise. well anyway, whatever the reason i've finished this mini story, i don't thing i'll be doing anything like it again because fitting chapters around and in episodes didn't quite work, at not as more than a one shot. i'd like to do a full story of my own and i've got some ideas just not exactly the time to do it, though if i do something i'm far to stubborn to let it go unfinished. okay, this is the epilogueand is set after the last episode of The End and marks a change in Raven.**

**

* * *

  
**

**Epilogue**

Everyone is asleep and their tranquillity pervades the tower like a gentle perfume, like a ghost it whispers to me of their dreams and like smoke entwines around my fingers. I'm standing barefooted on the very edge of the roof letting my toes curl over the stone, I'm not afraid I could just float away as if a breath exhaled from sleeping lips. I can't sleep which is why it's all I can think of, that, and the nightmare that came true. But that's all it is now: a nightmare, and when the world wakes to the morning chorus all the people will remember of Trigon will be as intangible as a nightmare. But I'll know and the titans will know and it is all I can do on this warm and pleasant night that comes after a storm is to not let the horrors of the day invade their dreams.

It's about three in the morning, the witching hour, and for those who have the power to see it an extra octave of colour sweeps over this time zone of the Earth. It's nothing unusual, it's just a concentrated band of magic that follows 3am around the world; it's a segment of the Earth's magical field. I guess it's quite beautiful but I've never really considered it in that way before. I read a book about it once when I first saw it and realised that the others couldn't, apparently its source lives out of sync with this reality's space-time schematics. I remember talking to Robin about it about it when he noticed that something seemed to amplify my powers at 3 am and considering crime doesn't always sleep it didn't take him long to figure out a connection. He doesn't like not knowing how things work, at first I think he mistrusted my magic, but at least without mistrusting me. I sensed this in him.

He never lost his faith in me, none of them did and because of them everything is back to normal: so why do I feel as if it were completely different at the same time? Or perhaps it's just me that's changed, I keep going it over and over in my head; my father; the prophecy; the battle and what Robin said to me earlier: "...you've got your hold life ahead of you. You can decide your own destiny." He's right; I'm just finding it difficult to take in, like experiencing taste for the first time. My life was supposed to end at sixteen and because of my father's influence over me and the nature of my powers I never really let it begin-

By the power of Azar! I almost had what Beast Boy refers to as a crisis, Cyborg just crept up behind me, and I didn't even hear the roof door open.

"Cyborg, you startled me."

"Sorry, I thought you heard me coming it's not like I'm the lightest on my toes. Beside you could've fooled me girl, you didn't even flinch when I put my hand on your shoulder. Don't give me that look: still hiding from everyone?"

"I'm not hiding up here. I couldn't sleep. I was thinking. What's your excuse?" I'm not irritated I just don't need people to worry or fuss over me.

"No excuse. My batteries are all charged up and I went for a midnight kitchen raid," he held up his sandwich as evidence, "salami, pastrami, three other –ami's, cheese (Swiss and grilled)," to emphasise the cheesy goodness he waggles his eyebrow at me, "bacon, egg, mustard, mayonnaise and chilli sauce, I think there might even be some lettuce hiding in there somewhere. Want some? No? Anyway you left the roof door open and a draught were coming down."

"I have nothing to hide from, except maybe your sandwich." I sit down and let my bare legs dangle over the edge of the tower, the air is still and only a murmur arises from the city, Cyborg hunkers down beside me and I find my broken solitude is not entirely unwelcomed. "Thanks."

"No probs, you look like you need to talk to someone."

"I mean thank you for everything you and the others have done for me... and not just for the past couple of days."

"Come on Raven, you don't have to thank us, what else could we have done? Given up?"

A comfortable silence sweeps across us both for a short while; I'm surprised when it's me that breaks it.

"For a moment I did... What does that say about me?"

"That you're more human than you give yourself credit for. What do you want me to say? That everyone makes mistakes, that none of us are perfect? You all ready now this, but we're not everyone and our mistakes come with some heavy repercussions-"

"I destroyed the world." I look out across the bay that was nothing but fire a short while ago. Looking at it now it barely seems real anymore.

"And nothing I can say can make you feel better or even worse about it. Are you seeking to balance out what you've done? How many times do you feel you need to save the world to settle your score? I didn't think you believed in karma."

"It's nothing like that"

"Then why do you do it Raven? Why do you save people, fight bad guys, and risk your life. You don't do it for the thrills, the congratulations, the moral obligation or even a search for redemption, you do it for the same reasons we all became heroes: simply that we are compelled." His argument is back up with a flourished sandwich, something that can't be ignored, especially when accompanied with kamikaze bacon.

"I'm not a hero, not like you."

"You saved the world today, six and a half billion people not including all of what could be hanging around out there that Trigon wanted to get his claws on, your action speaks louder than your heritage. You don't need anyone to tell you what you already know, you know who you are."

"Yeah I guess. So what now?"

"Dunno. Whatever you want." After a thoughtful pause between us Cyborg tears back into his sandwich, if only knowing what you wanted was as clear as a not-so-simple sandwich.

We chat for a while about other things, mundane things and it is pleasant to do so even if it's just to appreciate the luxury of being able to concern about the small things again. The world is safe for the time being; there is still half a tub of caramel waffle swirl ice cream in the freezer; and because humanity wasn't wiped out I'll get to see the season finale of 'Gossip Girl', secretly of course.

* * *

I told Robin that I needed to meditate thoroughly to adjust magically to what happened whilst everyone is training. I thing he described it as a power upgrade, I guess it is I do feel stronger and more acutely attuned to the world. I wasn't technically lying I will need to meditate more I just spent the morning doing it on the roof after Cyborg left. I need the time while everyone is busy training to search for some civilian clothes and I realised this morning that I don't actually have any besides from a prototype Teen Titans t-shirt that some company tried to get us to sign to, and somehow going around with 'Teen Titan' plastered across my chest defeats the point of me trying to find something 'plain clothes'. I feel bad searching in the others' rooms, I'd usually ask, but this is personal. Um... like a small emotional step towards becoming my own person, I might be excited if I knew how to be. I guess I can work on that too, though, baby steps Raven, let's not get ahead of myself.

Let's see, Starfire would be the obvious choice but despite her glee in shopping she doesn't own many clothes; she says that the materials of Earth people's clothes are simply not durable enough for crime fighting. Though she does own a lot of hats and hair 'ornaments', and even if I could squeeze into the prom dress she got I don't think that it screams inconspicuous either.

Robin's almost as bad despite having a secret identity he's done his best to be only Robin, The Boy Wonder Young Hero extraordinaire! He tries so hard, when is he going to give himself a break? Oh yeah, that's right: it's Robin, so never. I don't think his tux will suit me either. Maybe the mask would help?

Cyborg actually has the perfect item just ten sizes too big: a simple discreet grey hoodie... that reaches past me knees. He occasionally walks around Jump City in a hoodie and jeans when he doesn't want to be noticed too much, we all have those days I usually spend them in my room though. Cyborg doesn't really like being cooped up even when he wants to be alone; he always has to be doing something.

Beast Boy: I never thought you'd be my last hope, especially with fashion. I also never thought I'd be going into his room by choice. What was that? I don't think I'm alone in here, I can only pray to Azar that that noise was Silkie. Well at least I don't have to look very hard because everything is on the floor. Hawaiian shirt? Clashes with my hair. Green Peace save the whales t-shirt? Nothing against saving whales but I think that shirt has been making friends with the Stank Ball. Superman shirt? Wait, what's this? Perfect: non-descript navy hoodie that doesn't smell like feet, Raven, you have hit the jackpot in the crystal maze of fashion death traps. Thankfully I don't have to raid for trousers I can use my winter leggings and as if by magic I can transfer myself into a relatively normal completely human teenager and be back before the others finish training. Hopefully.

* * *

Donnie harrumphed and rapped across the counter with his pen for umpteenth time that morning with the only response from his boss being to ruffle his newspaper as he turned the page. He sat on the stool with one leg loosely crossed over the other and the tabloid held towards his face so that Donnie couldn't see his expression. The mannerism usually only presented itself when either he had had a fight with his wife or when Donnie had done something drastically wrong, Donnie knew that Greg's wife was currently visiting her sister in Metropolis so he suspected the latter. Donnie hated these days especially compared to the normal ones when they held a satisfying rapport which could be vital when business was slow. He shifted on his own stool and stared at the seemingly frozen clock on the wall, after what felt like an hour but was actually a relative five seconds Donnie let his forehead flop against the surface of the counter.

Greg snapped his paper shut and very deliberately and slowing folded and placed in next to his fallen assistant.

"Call it my acute sense of perception but something tells me that you are bored." Donnie jerked his face up from the counter an inch and took in the mild countenance of his apparently not agitated boss.

"You're not mad at me?"

"No, why have you done something that I should be mad at you for?" Greg swiped the pen out of Donnie's hand and flipped the paper over and proceeded to consider the jumbo crossword.

"No but you don't usually do the whole surly paper reading thing unless I've done something."

"Donnie I'm only going to say this once but if you start talking like my wife, bless her, then I will send you off to visit her sister. Beside I was reading an article about that strange eclipse that happened." Greg started to chew on the end of his pen for a moment before writing the word 'fastidious' in the white boxes provided.

"So has the press managed to shed any light on why the whole world went dark and everybody seemed to have lost two days of their life? Three across is 'Pérez' by the way."

"Not really, says it was probably aliens, Justice League has nothing, or at least nothing they want to share. Knew I shouldn't have gone for the New Frontier for anything readable but I prefer their crossword... six letters, another word for phenomenon:"

"Um... wonder?"

" Last letter 'l'." Donnie scratched at the stubble on his chin and began subconsciously tapping away at the counter again; damn he wished a customer would show... maybe they could think of the word. He glanced at the clock: noon! Finally his saviour had come and he could quell his boredom by fetching some lunch.

"So I was thinking that I should go and get us some lunch. How about the sandwich deli on fourth?"

He waited for a reply as Greg inked in a few more words and was reduced to staring at the clock every few seconds again.

"Again? We had that yesterday."

"Raoul makes good sandwiches."

"That he does, but this wouldn't have anything to do with the new girl he's got working on the till, she's about your age." He didn't need to look up from the paper to know that his assistant had just flushed a particular, or in fact a fastidious, shade of red.

"Is she? I can't say I've really noticed." Greg chuckled slightly to himself but nonetheless unlocked the cash register and flicked through the notes inside there wasn't much but he found a twenty dollar bill at the bottom and handed it over.

"I'll have a salad and don't give me that look you know I've been told to watch my cholesterol and just remember that I'm not paying you to flirt."

Donnie rolled his eyes as he tucked in his t-shirt and clattered out the door, as he went a girl of about 5ft 3 entered in a blue hooded jumper with the hood pulled up covering most of her face. She walked like a shadow with her hands hidden in her front pocket. Obviously too young to be in here, Greg thought and he was about to ask for some ID when the girl tilted her head to look at him. He saw a flash of two large eyes such a strange shade of blue that he would say that they were violet and whilst gazing felt a wind of serenity encompass him. A sense of trust filled him and he thought himself foolish for thinking of doubting the girl's age. He ran his hands over his forearms in a nervous gesture and tried to gather himself, thinking himself rude he went to offer the girl a seat. She shoved a piece of paper at him in a single swift movement.

"I'd like this one, can you neaten it up a bit I don't really draw."

Greg scrutinised the drawing and though a little rough around the edges found it a pleasing design. He smoothed it out on his desk behind the counter and made quick work at fine tuning a picture, as his pencil swept across a fresh page he tried to strike up a conversation with the girl.

"It'll cost you a bit extra, a redesign."

"That's not a problem."

"Your first tattoo?"

"Yes"

"Any reason for the choice?"

"It felt right."

Greg nodded but felt uncomfortable under her gaze, there was something odd about her but he couldn't determine what. Was it the way she didn't appear to move not even to breathe or her curt droll voice, no, it was the way she looked at you without blinking. It was as if she could see into his head or read his soul or something, not that he was into that mystic mumbo jumbo, but well these days weird things happened. Despite his misgivings something was telling him that this person was harmless so he tried shrugging off his prejudice and focused instead on the drawing beneath his hands.

It wasn't long before he was finished and he showed the girl into the back and started to prepare the needles, the whole design was to be done in black so he was ready quickly with a last ping of a clean pair of latex gloves. She wanted the tattoo on the base of her back, quite a common place for a tattoo on women but it often looked good hence its popularity.

She sat hunched on the edge of the padded table with her hooded jumper pushed up a little and gathered in her hands around her waist. Her skin was an unusual pallor like unprinted newspaper, he half expected her to crumble away under the needle. But she didn't, she didn't even move, not a flinch; she didn't clench her fingers or anything. She sat perfectly still with her eyes half lidded staring dully at the floor below that her shoes didn't come close to touching. A lot of people react differently to getting a tattoo but in Greg's twenty years of experience everybody at least reacted, whether they put on a brave face or squirmed gritting their teeth. He felt like he was tattooing a manikin or worse: a corpse, he frowned at his morbid imagination; maybe she just froze up at the sight of the needle. Stranger things have happened.

"You okay? The pain isn't too much?"

"Hmm? Pain? No it is fine." That same blasé tone; like a complete indifference to her own physical self. Greg decided that it would be better if he finished the tattoo in silence without concentrating too much on the girl. So instead he focused solely on the image that he was creating pretending that he was working on a blank canvas.

He must be straining his eyes: he could have sworn that the tattoo just moved slightly, he was almost done and something strange was definitely going on. The black ink had taken on an iridescent quality it looked like it was coming off of the girl's skin instead of the needle, like sweat. There must be something wrong with his vision: it kept flickering but he couldn't tear his gaze from it, nor would his hand obey him.

The tattoo was a rune-like bird in flight, a simple design but the more he stared his brow prickled and he felt as if the bird was the only real thing in the room. It now seemed to float hazily just a fraction above her pale gleaming skin waiting impatiently for him to finish so it could flick its wings. When it was complete control returned to Greg's hands as he wiped the residue of ink away. Taking a deep breath and rubbing at his eyes the walls of the room sharpened and became less dark again. The girl had gotten up and was now standing by the cash register, Greg moved like a possessed zombie taking the money from her who then signed a receipt but Greg, feeling foggy was disinclined to talk to the girl; in fact he wanted her out of his shop as quickly as possible.

When she did leave he tried to take a moment to gather himself and mull over what had exactly happened but every time he tried to recall a detail about the girl or the strange nature of the tattoo it was as useless as carrying water in your hands: it would just slip through. His frowning brow creasing reverie was broken by the jingle of the door as Donnie returned with lunch in a paper bag.

"What on Earth took you so long?"

"What do you mean? I was only ten minutes, look at the clock." The clock read ten past twelve and Greg found himself lost again as Donnie unloaded the contents of lunch onto the counter.

"But the girl that came in, she must have been here for over an hour."

"What girl?" Donnie paused between mouthfuls of his sandwich just registering the bemused and helpless expression on his boss's face thinking that it reminded him of child who'd just seen a magic trick for the first time.

"She came in as you were leaving. She was...short? Wearing um something blue. Ergh I can't remember." He rubbed at his eyes again, frustrated and confused.

"There wasn't anyone as I left. Are you sure? Are you alright?"

"Yes I'm sure, and I'm fine." An idea came to him and he unlocked the cash register and pulled out the money she had paid with along with the receipt, "there look she paid and signed and everything."

"What was her name? Is it legible?" Donnie lent over the counter to read it accidently squeezing mustard out of his sandwich onto the newspaper which had been folded and left by the till.

"Yeah it says 'Raven'."

* * *

**Got sick of writing in first person, don't think i'll be doing that again, so the tattoo part i though would be interesting to try from an outsiders view. a lot of folks in the fandom will already know that in the comics Raven got a tattoo in vol 3 of the current teen titan's series (beast boys and girls) that showed up once and was never seen again. i just though it was a nice idea of Raven showing ownership of her own body now that she isn't the portal anymore. the 'Gossip Girl' comment is reference to the new Titans serieas that has all the old crew in it and Raven's deepest darkest secret is that she 'watches Gossip Girl religiously.' i don't know if it's a real show or a take on Gilmore Girls because of copy right laws but who knows because i recently read 'agent orange' which is part of the blackest night build up and Hal Jordan thinks that the keeper of the orange lantern reminds him of gonzo from the muppets. **

**what else? oh yeah, it was cheeky of me to slip a tiny Watchmen quote, thankyou Rorschach, who when asked why he does what he does (hero/anarchist) he says that they do it simply because they are compelled, or something of that nature i can't be bothered to find the actual words.**

**to the bb/rae or rob/rae fans out there who were dissappionted that it was cyborg on the roof with Raven, it was purely friendship and Cyborg doesn't get nearly as much love in fanfictions as he should, so yes i could have had some romantic fluff or some sisterly bonding with starfire but i took the sandwich route with my buddy Cyborg.**

**a huge thank you to anyone who managed to read this far. please review as it would be good to hear what anyone thinks now that i'n finished, even if it's bad.**

**xxx  
**


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